Petaluma Judo instructor offering free self-defense for Asian business owners

Henry Kaku said he believes the confidence gained from learning self-defense skills can be enough to stop an attack before it ever happens.

So as he watched a rise in anti-Asian attacks unfold amid the coronavirus pandemic in the past year, Kaku, the 72-year-old sensei at Petaluma’s DeLeon Judo Club, decided to do something.

Now he’s offering free self-defense classes to local Asian business owners and their staff, with an emphasis on women, who have been targeted in even higher numbers than men.

“If you have that 1% chance, then you have that inner confidence, and that’s the most important thing,” said Kaku, adding that he was inspired by a similar offering in San Francisco.

The 90-minute class will be offered at 10 a.m. Sunday and 4 p.m. Monday at Walnut Park in Petaluma. Though the intention is to draw local Asian business owners from Petaluma, Asian senior citizens and nearby business owners are also welcome to attend.

Kaku will be joined by multiple martial arts instructors, including two of the highest-ranking Aikido instructors and a four-time world silver medalist in traditional Wushu. All volunteered for the assignment.

“They were all excited,” said Kaku. “All the martial arts instructors said they’ll do it for free. They wanted to support me.”

Kaku, who has been teaching martial arts for 25 years, says the main takeaway from the class is the confidence people will gain after learning just a few basic skills that can save them from a dangerous situation. Judo teaches you how to get out of a grab using skill alone. It doesn’t require strength, which is why it’s great for self-defense, Kaku believes.

“That one or two little skill sets that you might learn in my class,” he said, “if someone grabs you, you’d have a moment to get out and be released from that grab, just enough time to run as fast as you can away from that person and start screaming and hollering for help.”

But Kaku adds that people shouldn’t expect to come away with action-movie skills.

“An hour or two-hour class is not going to make you an expert — you’re not going to be what you see in the movies or TV fighting off bad guys,” he said. “Even after 50 or 60 years of Judo that I’ve taken, I don’t think I could do that either unless it’s choreographed for me.”

Along with his martial arts background, Kaku has for four decades taught the art of origami and served as a substitute teacher in the area since 2001.

As an educator, he believes talking to one another and having open communication is the way to acceptance. He has brought in judo students of his to his classrooms at Casa Grande to talk about the racial discrimination they have faced.

In late March, Kaku spoke during a candlelight vigil at Walnut Park honoring the six Asian victims of a hate-motivated shooting in Atlanta. The crowd, he said, was mostly non-Asian, and Kaku felt the support from the community.

“Having lived here in Petaluma since 1985,” said Kaku, “you don’t see very many Asians in general — you don’t see very many minorities.” Noting that there were a handful of Asians at the vigil, but a large crowd of non-Asian community members, he feels it is a positive sign. “That was really inspiring,” he said, “to see all of those people out there helping and supporting.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: An earlier version of this story misstated the time classes start June 27. The classes start at 10 a.m.